Supermassive Black Holes May Frequently Roam Galaxy Centers

May 25, 2010: A team of astronomy researchers at Florida Institute of
Technology and Rochester Institute of Technology in the
United States and University of Sussex in the United Kingdom,
find that the supermassive black hole (SMBH) at the center of
the most massive local galaxy (M87) is not where it was
expected. Their research, conducted using the Hubble Space
Telescope (HST), concludes that the SMBH in M87 is displaced
from the galaxy center. The most likely cause for this SMBH to
be off center is a previous merger between two older, less
massive, SMBHs. The iconic M87 jet may have pushed the
SMBH away from the galaxy center, say researchers. The
research is being presented today at the 216th meeting of the
American Astronomical Society in Miami. It will also be
published in The Astrophysical Journal Lettters. For more
information about this research, visit: http://www.fit.edu/newsroom/news/3917/supermassive_black_holes_may_frequently_roam_galaxy_centers/ .